Newark airport worker arrested for identity theft

NEWARK, N.J., May 15 (UPI) -- New Jersey police say a security supervisor at Newark airport has been arrested for using the identity of a murdered man to hide his immigration status.

When Bimbo Olumuyiwa Oyewole came to work at the airport in 1992, Jerry Thomas had been found shot dead in a Queens YMCA in July of that year. Oyewole allegedly assumed Thomas' identity to hide the fact that he had illegally immigrated to the United State three years earlier, Port Authority officials say.

Oyewole was arrested Monday in his home in Elizabeth, N.J., after the Port Authority received an anonymous tip several weeks ago which sparked an investigation. He was charged Monday night with identity theft, the New York Daily News reported.

Officials say Oyewole only wanted to hide his immigration status. "If there was any other nefarious activity, it would have come up on his very frequent background checks," said Steve Coleman, Port Authority spokesman.

Oyewole worked under several different contractors at the airport, with one saying it checked his birth certificate and social security card upon hiring him, the Daily News said.